Brave New World (P.S.)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." &#8212;Chicago Tribune

Aldous Huxley is rightly considered a prophetic genius and one of the most important literary and philosophical voices of the 20th Century, and Brave New World is his masterpiece. From the author of The Doors of Perception, Island, and countless other works of fiction, non-fiction, philosophy, and poetry, comes this powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations. Brave New World remains absolutely relevant to this day as both a cautionary dystopian tale in the vein of the George Orwell classic 1984, and as thought-provoking, thoroughly satisfying entertainment.

Synopsis:

Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future&#8212;where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

About the Author

Aldous Huxley was born in Surrey, England, in 1894, and died in 1963. He is the author of many critically acclaimed books of fiction and nonfiction, including Crome Yellow, The Doors of Perception, and Island.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 4 comments:

mitchellwanous, November 20, 2014 (view all comments by mitchellwanous)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is one of the most thought provoking novels I have read. It is a dystopian novel that analyzes the possibilities of a totally conformed society. Huxley does an excellent job of laying out the conflicts within the conformed society and letting the reader makes his/her own judgements on what is right and wrong. It also stresses the importance of the individual in society. In a completely conformed society individuality is lost and Huxley wants the readers to understand the importance of being different. In this way, it is also an inspiring story. The novel was written in 1931, in a world that had been through immense change to society due to the industrial revolution. Huxley and others like him in the time period could only begin to imagine what the world would be like in the next 50 years, or next 100 years. Surprisingly many of Huxley’s predictions were spot on or very close to it (but I will let you read it and find these examples for yourself).
The nature of the novel being a dystopian work allows it to raise thought provoking questions to the reader. Its purpose it to make the reader look at current society and compare it to a world where people are unhappy and unable to think and act on their own. It shows the reader what is important to the human experience and society. Some of the question I found myself pondering as a read were: What do I imagine a completely controlled society looking like and how similar is my imagination to Huxley’s? What human values are lost in a totally conformed society? How does the role of humans in the world change? What would life be like living a society like this? and Who gets to or who got to decide how society will be ran? Every reader's mind works differently depending on their ideology so maybe your question will be different than mine but regardless Huxley does an excellent job at opening discussion with his writing.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a thought provoking novel. Personally I enjoyed this book because of all the questions and internal discussions it raised within me. For some people this maybe a turn off. It all depends on your reading preferences. At Thanksgiving I will be telling my grandma and grandpa to read this book, a tell tale sign that this is indeed an excellent read.

Connorborn, November 20, 2014 (view all comments by Connorborn)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is masterpiece dystopian work that forces the reader to analyze the inherent conflict between technological advancement and cultural ideology. Throughout the novel, Huxley reveals the “fallacies” within our society through dialogue between characters. The character Mustapha Mond described one of the central problems in our current society as, “The world was full of fathers - was therefore full of misery; full of mothers - therefore of every kind of perversion from sadism to chastity; full of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts - full of madness and suicide” (35), during his initial description and justification for their society. The rationalism with which Mond argues for the justification of ridding the world of these nuances and the chilling certainty with which all characters appear to agree with him shows this view is not just a story telling device, but is an actual description of where the world could end up. The rationalism with which all of Huxley’s world is created works wonderfully with the themes he presents because he predicted the world so acutely. This book was written in 1932, an age before rockets, before helicopters and before mass marketed television, yet all of these inventions appear within the novel. The fact that now our modern society contains such wonders, and as close to the descriptions that Huxley makes, reinforces the idea that this technologically homogenized world is not as far fetched as it sounds. The use of a future setting works wonderfully with the novel because as more and more of Huxley’s technological predictions come true, we can see the cultural state of the world begin to mirror that present within the novel. As our society degrades into that found in Brave New World, Huxley’s warning about dangers of technology become increasingly blatant.
I thought that the use of characters worked well within the novel. The primary character for the first portion of the book is Bernard Marx, an outsider who is upset about the his world’s morals. He is described as, “[His] physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma. He stood eight centimeters short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion” (57). This abnormality in his physical appearance is a mirror of the abnormality of his social behavior. These differences between him and the rest of society make him an outcast. Huxley uses this to his advantage by showing that the only way to truly judge a society is to view it from the outside. He uses other characters to prove this as well. Mustapha Mond realizes that society is not ideal because he is an elite; John realizes that society is bad because he is from a reservation; Helmholtz comes to this same realization because he is a teacher of art in a world that doesn’t appreciate it. What Huxley wants the reader to take away is that while the reader can clearly see that the society has problems in the novel, they may be blinded by their inclusion in real society to see any problems in the world.
In total, this novel is a beautiful work that shows both the highest level of human accomplishment, the society has no war, disease, or aging, as well as the cost it takes to achieve it. It serves as a warning of technological advancement as well as a reminder that we must remain true to ourselves. This is work is incredible because of how realistic is feels and how well written it is. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Juan A, May 5, 2010 (view all comments by Juan A)
Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World is essentially a cartoon about society. What this novel shares with Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and Elmer Fud is the constant exaggerations that make kids shows impossible. From the personalities of the characters to the ridiculousness of the plot; every aspect is taken to an extreme. However, this is Huxley’s genius. His purpose in taking the possibilities of science and a totalitarian state to an extreme is to comment on the direction in which society is headed. His book makes one question, just because we can do something should we? If we choose to do so, are the benefits worth the losses? With the advancements made in genetic engineering and the growth of government, these questions are more applicable today than they were in Huxley’s time.
Huxley was greatly influenced by the world around him, the ever-changing early twentieth century, when he wrote his novel. The world was in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, a time that brought machines along with entirely new ways of life. One of the leading figures in this era was Henry Ford and his innovative assembly line. These events and personalities inspired the technology in the novel, but the pessimism toward this technology is directly due to the role that technology played in World War I. The ideas toward sexuality seen in Brave New World are most likely influenced by Sigmund Freud, a pioneer in the ideas of sexuality and psychoanalysis. These events and people inspired, or frightened, Huxley enough for him to write a novel in response to the world he saw around him.
His story takes place six hundred years in the future in a seemingly perfect society that preaches, “Community, Identity, [and] Stability”. In order for this machine of a society to exist, there need to be workers to maintain it. People in this society are made, not born. The mere thought of a family is preposterous because the government has assumed this role, creating and raising children. At the top of the social pyramid rest the alphas, the leaders and most perfect people in society. From there the classes descend down the Greek alphabet all the way to epsilon. Each class getting more stupid and of less importance than the last. The lowest classes are the workers of society and thus mass produced by a budding process that creates ninety six clones at a time. All members of society enjoy a life of pure happiness, partially because they are “conditioned” to do so and if that fails they can turn to the soma. This drug has, “all of the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects”(54). Soma, along with peoples ignorance of the past, their sexual freedom, and the regulation of ideas, is what keeps the world in a constant state of happiness. This deceptively perfect society serves as Huxley’s vision of a mad world absent of traditional morals. One he believed our society is headed toward.
The central idea that Huxley conveys with a Brave New World is the abuse or mishandling of power. In the novel, this power is both scientific knowledge, such as cloning, genetics, and conditioning, and the absolute power of the state. Huxley Uses these ideas as a road to guide the reader to the conclusion that just because we, as a society, have the capabilities to do something, such as genetic engineering, it does not mean that we should act. Doing so may carry consequences that outweigh the benefits, draining us of our humanity. In the novel, society has exchanged free will, art, progress, and even definitive human emotions in exchange for shallow happiness. Mustapha Mond explains this situation when he says, “that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art”(220). Huxley does a great job of getting his point across, but this was attained with sacrifice.
Brave New World lacks character and plot depth and believability. Since his story is more of a commentary on society, the world Huxley created is more of a character than the actual characters of the novel. The characters serve the same purpose that puzzle pieces do; they are individual pieces that bring their own weight to complete the work as a whole. Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, and John are of secondary importance to the story. They are shadowed by the world itself and are therefore stripped to archetypical characters with basic, yet extreme, personalities and emotions. The plot seems to have fallen behind the importance of the commentary that the book makes as well. Details, such as John’s ability to maneuver through and adapt to a modern world despite living in a primitive reservation his entire life, are highly unbelievable. These sacrifices are made in order to get to the larger meaning of the work, and Huxley does this very well.
In conclusion, Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World is a great book. He took in what he observed in the world around him and used it as inspirations to create a novel that makes an intelligent commentary on the direction that the world is headed. However, this point was made by sacrificing the depth of the characters and plot within the book.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(6 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)

"Synopsis"
by Harper Collins,
Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future&#8212;where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and gifts — here at Powells.com.